11 



0898. j 



REPRINTEiD KROM 

EDUCATION, 

Boston, March, 1894. 

'Joseph neef and pestalozzianism 
in america. 

WILL si MONKOE, STANFORT> UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA. 



THE history of education in the United States is yet unwritten. 
Young as it is in years, many of the men and movements 
connected with its beginning are aheady forgotten or remembered 
only by a few special students. But when it comes to be written, 
Joseph Neef and his efforts to introduce Pestalozzianism in Ameri- 
ca, during the opening years of the present century, will be famil- 
iar to teachers generally. Today, scarcely a score of our profes- 
sional educators know more than his name. Of the character and 
activities of this remarkable Alsacian — who fought with Napoleon, 
taught with Pestalozzi, and made the first contribution to a peda- 
gogical literature in America — the present article is to deal. For 
it, the writer has taken possession of many widely scattered facts — 
the various accounts of Pestalozzi's work at Burgdorf, Owen's com- 
munistic movement at New Harmony, the excellent articles by Mr. 
Gardette'^^ and Mr. ^Vood,<*> the printed books of Neef, letters and 
other documents from his daughter — and these he has endeavored 
to weave into a continuous sketch. For the benefit of those who 
may be interested in the further study of this wonderful man, 
there has been appended a bibliography, to which the numbei-s in 
the body of the article refer. While he has admired the work of 
this pioneer disciple of Pestalozzi and seemed to make the touch of 
the critical finger somewhat gentle, he has withal, endeavored to 
indicate the limitations and mistakes of the subject of his memoir. 



2 EDUCATION. ^_^ (April, 

Francis Joseph Nicholas Neef was born at Soultz, Alsace, on the 
6th of December, 1770. His father was a miller and destined his 
son for the priesthood ; but when about twenty-one years old, 
young Neef gave up the idea of taking orders, and entered the 
French army under Napoleon. At the famous battle of Arcole, 
Italy, in 1796, he was severely wounded and forced to retire from 
the military service. It was then that he turned his attention to 
education. When he joined Pestalozzi, is nowhere positively 
stated. In the Plan of Education he says : " About a year after 
Pestalozzi's school was established I became acquainted with him." 
The school at Burgdorf was opened in 1799, so that Neef must 
have joined Pestalozzi in 1800. The character of his teaching at 
Burgdorf is best given by Ramsaner^"' who was a pupil of the 
school at the time. He says : "• Buss had the scholars to sing 
whilst marching in time two and two, holding each other by the 
hand, in the large corridors of the castle. This was our chief 
pleasure ; but our joy reached its climax when our gymnastic mas- 
ter Neef, with his peculiar charm, took part hi it. This Neef was 
an old soldier who had fought in all parts of the world. He was a 
giant with a great beard, a crabbed face, a severe air, a rude exter- 
ior, but he was kindness itself. When he marched with the air of 
a trooper at tlie head of sixty or eighty cliildren, his great voice 
thundering a Swiss air, then he enchanted the whole house. 
****** J should say that Neef, in spite of the rudeness of 
his exterior, was the pupils' favorite, and for this reason he always 
lived with them and felt happiest when amongst them. He played, 
exercised, walked, bathed, climbed, threw stones with the scholars 
all in a childish spirit : this is how he had such unlimited author- 
ity over them. Meanwhile, he was not a pedagogue, he only had 
the heart of one." 

Pestalozzi, having been chosen a member of the Helvetic con- 
sulta in 1802, was frequently called to Paris to settle disputes and 
look after interests involving Helvetia. A ])hilanthropic society in 
Paris, learning of his method of instruction, induced him to send 
one of his teachers among them. Neef, because of his familiarity 
with the French and German languages, was chosen to conduct 
the Paris school. This school, a sort of orphanage, and not un- 
like the one that Pestalozzi was at the time conducting at Burg- 
dorf, attracted general attention, and was visited by numerous dis- 
tinguished educators and philanthropists, not a few of whom were 
Americans. 



1894.1 JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISJJ. $ 

Pompee"''* gives this account of Neef s Paris school and a visit 
to the same made by Napoleon : " Mons. Neef, a teacher of Burg- 
dorf, was sent to Paris, and commenced teaching in the orphanage, 
where the administration of the benevolent institutions entrusted a 
certain number of children to him. Napoleon, wishing to see for 
himself the results, went to the orphanage accompanied by Tally- 
rand, the embassador from the United States, and a large number 
of distinguished people ; he left well satisfied with what he saw. 
****** Whilst all the governments of Europe were thinking 
of introducing a new system of teaching into the elementary 
schools, a private individual, Mr. McClure, conferred upon his 
country, the United States, an establishment that could vie with 
the most important schools of Europe. A singular chance led him 
toward the improvement of his country's instruction. In 1804 he 
was in Paris, and had a great desire to see Napoleon. He applied 
to the ambassador from the United States who took him to the 
meeting where Napoleon had gone to see the results of Neef's 
teaching of the orphans. During the whole time that the exer- 
cises were going on, McClure, absorbed in looking at Napoleon, 
saw nothing else ; but, when going away, he heard Tallyrand say 
to Napoleon, It is too much for us. This remark struck him ; he 
returned to the room and learned from Neef the object of the 
meeting ; and, as he was deeply interested in the improvement of 
the condition of the poorer classes, he saw at once all that Pesta- 
lozzi's system could do to benefit their condition. He made a very 
favorable offer to Neef to go to Philadelphia, and later on to New 
Harmony to found a Pestalozzian Institute." 

The circumstances and date of Mr. McClure's visit to Paris, as 
given by Neef^^"^ himself, are as follows : '' In the summer of 1805, 
Mr. William McClure, of Philadelphia, one of Pennsylvania's 
most enlightened sons, happened to visit Helvetia's interesting 
mountains and valleys. He was accompanied by Mr. C. Cabell, a 
brother of the present governor of Virginia. Pestalozzi's school 
attracted their notice. They repaired thither and to be soon con- 
vinced of the solidity, importance and usefulness of the Pestalozzi's 
method displayed before his eyes, and to form an unalterable wish 
of naturalizing it in his own country, were operations succeeding 
each other with such rapidity, that Mr. McClure took them for 
one and the same operation. As soon as he had returned to Paris, 
Mr. McClure sought and sent for me. ' On what terms,' said the 



4 EDUCATION. [April, 

magnanimous patriot, ' would you go to my country, and introduce 
there your method of education ? I have seen Pestalozzi, I know 
his system ; my country wants it and will receive it with entliiisi- 
asm. I engage to pay your passage, to secure your livelihood. 
Go and be your master's apostle in the new world.' My soul was 
warmed with admiration at such uncommon generosity. Republi- 
can by inclination and principle, and of course not at all pleased 
with the new order of things that was established under my e^^es, I 
was not only glad to quit Europe, but 1 burnt with desire to see- 
that country, to live in it, to be useful to it which can boast of such 
citizens. But what still more heightens Mr. McClure's magnan- 
imity is, that I did not at that period understand English at all. 
Two years at least were to be allowed for my acquiring a sufficient 
knowledge of the language of this land ; during which space I had 
no other resource left but Mr. McClure's generosity. But neither 
this nor any other consideration could stagger his resolution. 
Thus it was that I became an inhabitant of the new world " 

The following document, copied from the original kindly loaned 
to the writer by his daughter Mrs. Richard Owen, states clearl}^ 
and briefly the agreement between Neef and McClure : "Professor 
Neef agrees to go to Pennsylvania in the U. S. of America and 
-- ^) teach children after the methods of Pestalozzi for three years from 

the date of his arrival, in consequence of which Wm. Maclure 
agrees to pay Professor Neef's expenses from Paris to the U. S. of 
America to the amount of Three thousand Two hundred Livres 
Tournois, and to make good to Professor Neef whatever sum as 
salary he may receive for teaching said methods that falls short of 
Five hundred Dollars per Annum during the three years or the 
time Professor Neef may continue to teach the system of Pesta- 
lozzi. Paris, 19th March, 1806. WM. MACLURE." On the 
back of the same is the following: "Paris, 19th March, 1806. 
Received from Wm. Maclure Three thousand two hundred Livres 
Tournois in full for my expenses to the U. S. of America agreeable 
to the terms of the Within Engagement. NEEF." What broad 
humanitarianism ! Well might Mr. Maclure's biographer^''^ say 
of him : " He devoted his talents and his wealth, not to the acqui- 
sition of a greater fortune, or person-al agrandizement, or sensual 
indulgence, but to the advancement of science and the amelioration 
of the condition of his fellow-men, born and living in circum- 
stances not as favorable to happiness as himself." 



1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 5 

Neef opened his school in Philadelphia in 1809, at the Falls of 
the Schuylkill, near where the Fairniount water works are now lo- 
cated. The school house was situated on a hill and near it were 
two other buildings, used as the dwelling house and dormitories. 
They were plainly built, of rough, Substantial material, but they 
were well-ventilated and comfortable. On this spot, as Mr. Gar- 
dette tells us, Mr. Neef succeeded in collecting over one hundred 
pupils, most of them sons of the best families in and around Phila- 
delphia, and nearly, but not quite, all of them boarders. A kins- 
man of Mr. GardetteW has thus desciibed this institution: "I 
lived at the school for four years (from my seventh to my 
eleventh). During this period I saw no book, neither was I taught 
my alphabet. The chief subjects taught us orally, were the lan- 
guages, mathematics, and the natural sciences; and the idea was 
to make us understand the object and application of all we learned. 
****** Our outdoor life was equally curious. We never 
wore hats, winter or summer, and many of us went barefooted also 
during the warm weather. Our master, hatless as ourselves, would 
lead us on long tramps through the adjacent country, talking, as 
we went, upon agriculture, botany, mineralogy and the like, in a 
pleasant, descriptive way, and pointing out to us their practical il- 
lustration in the grain fields, the gardens, the rocks and streams 
along our route. And wherever we came, we were always recog- 
nized by our bare heads and hardy habits as ' the Neef boys from 
the Falls.' We were encouraged in all athletic sports, were great 
swimmers and skaters, walkers and gymnasts. In the pleasant 
weather we went to bathe twice every day in the Schuylkill, with 
Neef, who was an accomplished swimmer, at our head. It was 
possibly owing to these amusements and exercises being taken in 
common with our master that there existed between Neef and his 
pupils a freedom so great as to be sometimes, I fear, slightly incon- 
.sistent with good breeding or the deference due from pupil to 
teacher. But this seemed to be a part of the system, and Mr. 
Neef^>;vvas a thoroughly good-tempered, simple-mannered, and amia- 
ble man, without an atom of false pride or pedagogism." How like 
the characterization by Ramsaner ! 

The Ischool was continued at the Falls of the Schuylkill for a 
little more than three years with great success, Avhen it was re- 
moved to Village Green, Chester County. While here, among 
other pupils, was one David Glasgow Farragut, subsequently the 



6 ED UCA riON. [April , 

famous Admiral. But the cliauge proved disastrous ; and after a 
little more than a year, upon the advice of Dr. Gait, of Louisville, 
Kentucky, whose sons had been under Neef's tuition at Village 
Green, he moved his school thither. The Louisville school did not 
prosper as he had hoped. It was given up and he purchased a 
farm twenty-five miles from the city Avliich he continued to oper- 
ate until 1826 when Robert Owen induced him to go to New Har- 
mony, Lidiana, and join his community and supervise the schools 
of the same. A writer^^*'^ in the American Journal of Education 
(Boston) For March, 1827, says of the New Harmony school : 
"The system is the improved Pestalozzian ; and of course they 
never attempt to teach children what they cannot comprehend. 
In consequence all kinds of dogmas of every sect or persuasion are 
banished from the schools, but the purest and unsophisticated 
morals are taught by example and precept. In the infant school a 
friendly feeling and equanimity of temper, kindness and mild dis- 
position towards one another is taught more b}^ example than pre- 
cept.'" And Sir Rowland HillP'^ in mentioning the same says : 
" Here is a specimen of the advantages of the system. The nat- 
uralists having made the children acquainted with their wants, the 
little creatures swarm over the woods, and bring in such an abun- 
dance of specimens that they are forming several immense collec- 
tions, some of which they will })resent to new communities, and 
others will be exchanged for collections in other parts of the 
world." Mr. Dunnl^"^^ in an editorial on " New Harmony's Influ- 
ence," in the Indianapolis Sentinel^ says : " At the founding of the 
community William McClure, an educator and political economist 
of high attainments, and Joseph Neef, a disciple and associate of 
Pestalozzi, took charge of the mental and manual training of the 
colony. In addition to the school-room, frequent lectures were 
given on various subjects, and the most advanced methods of agri- 
culture and all branches of industry were introduced. ****** 
But beyond their immediate labors, there was certainly an educa- 
tional influence in the New Harmony work that must have been 
widely felt." 

But the New Harmony community was given up in 1828 and 
Mr. Neef removed to Cincinnati and later to Steubenville, Ohio, 
where he conducted a school for a short time. In 1834 he re- 
turned to New Harmony where he continued to live up to the 
time of his death, April 8, 1854. Robert Dale Owenti'^] i„ ]^ig 



1894. J JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 7 

autobiographical sketches has this to say of him : " Simple, 
straight-forward, and cordial, a proficient in modern languages, a 
good musician, he had brought with him from Pestalozzi's institu- 
tion an excellent mode of teaching. To his earlier life, as an 
officer under Napoleon, was due a blunt, off-hand manner and an 
abrujit style of speech, enforced, now and then, with an oath — an 
awkward habit for a teacher, which I think he tried ineffectually 
to get rid of. One day, when I was within hearing, a boy in his 
class used profane language. ' Youngster,' said Neef to him, ' you 
mustn't swear. It's silly and its vulgar, and it means nothing. 
Don't let me hear you do so again.' ' But, Mr. Neef,' said the 
boy, hesitating, and looking half-frightened, ' if — if its vulgar and 
wrong to swear, why — ' ' Well, out with it ! Never stop when you 
want to say anything : that is another bad habit. You wished to 
know why — ' 'why you swear yourself, Mr. Neef?' 'Because I'm 

a d d fool. Don't you be one, too.* With all his roughness, 

the good old man was a general favorite alike with children and 
adults. Those whose recollections of Harmony extend back thirty 
years preserve a genial remembrance of him walking about in the 
sun of July or August, in linen trousers and shirt, always bare- 
headed, sometimes barefooted, with a grandchild in his arms, and 
humming to his infant charge some martial air, in a wonderful 
bass voice, which, it is said, enabled him, in his younger days, 
when giving commands to a body of troops, to be distinctly heard 
by ten thousand men." 

Neef was married July 5, 1803, to Eloisa Buss, sister of Johannes 
Buss, teacher of geometry and drawing in Pestalozzi's school. The 
ceremony was performed in the old castle at Burgdorf and was 
witnessed by I'estalozzi, his wife, and other members of the insti- 
tution. Johannes Buss had two of his brothers in Pestalozzi's 
school ; and, being desirous of having his sister educated there 
also, he induced Madame Pestalozzi to take Eloisa under her 
charge. She was taught there privately for three j'ears — the 
school being exclusively for boys — and Neef was her teacher of 
French. In his Plan of Education he thus speaks of her : 
" Mistress Neef, according to what she very often tells me, and I 
of course must believe, is an excellent contriver in housekeeping ; 
she shall, therefore, be entrusted with the management of our 
domestic affairs. Like the honest Vicar of Wakefield, I chose my 
wife not for a glossy surface, but such other qualities as I thought 



8 EDUCATION. [April, 

would wear well. I shall bestow no further eulogy upon said 
lady, lest my reader should imagine I am still in love with her, 
which would be a very unfashionable mistake indeed. No husband 
who has outlived the honeymoon will be astonished at this assertion 
of mine, as soon as he shall know that I have been married these 
five long years." 

^ That Mrs. Neef had her share of trouble with her simple-hearted 
pedagogical husband, is evidenced by this incident told by one of 
his Philadelphia pupils: '' Mr. Neef had no inclination for society, 
and, on occasions when it became necessary that he should visit 
the city, his wife, an excellent and notable woman, would tie a 
cravat (which he habitually went without) round his neck, and 
slap a hat on his head, much to his disgust and annoyance. 
' Alas I ' he would exclaim at such times with a mock resignation ; 
' must I again have the rope round my neck.' It usually happened, 
on these excursions citywards, that, taking off liis hat in the stage 
or at the first halt on his route, he forgot all about tliat superfluous 
article, and would return to his good lady hatless as usual. And 
if the day had been warm, the cravat generally shared the fate of 
the hat. To guard against these frequently recurring losses, Mrs. 
Neef had recourse, finally, to the plan of attaching her husband's 
name and address inside the crown of his headgear." 

Those who knew Neef well describe him as being '•'• a man of un- 
usual abilities and eccentric character, a profound scholar, a dee}> 
and original thinker, a thorough philosopher, and a sincere, honest 
man." In personal appearance he was "■ firm-knit, sinewy, com- 
pact of form, with a bright, dark eye, and close-cut, coal-black haii ', 
the figure and gait of a well-drilled, graceful soldier, the face of a 
Roman Tribune, the mind of a sage, and tlie heart of a child." 
The same writer ^*' says : " Though possessing agreeable manners, 
Mr. Neef had no inclination for society." He was a member of the 
Masonic order as is indicated by a certificate issued August 12, 
1815, by ''the Worshipful Master and Officers of Lodge No. 69, 
held in the Borough of Chester, under the jurisdiction of the 
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania" and certifying that " Brother Joseph 
Neef was regularly Entered, Passed, and Raised to the Sublime 
degree of a Master Mason in our Lodge." Another document 
states that ^ At a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, held on the 4th day of the 6th month (June) 1812,' 
Joseph Neef of the Falls of the Schuylkill was duly elected a 



1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND f^ESTALOZZIANISM. 9 

corresponrling member." These and other documents, preserved 
by Mrs. Owen and placed at the disposition of the writer, show a 
breadth of interest and sympathy hardly to be expected from one 
of his peculiar temperament. 

Although Christopher Dock's Schul-Ordnung is the oldest book 
in America on the art of teaching, it was printed in German and 
has only lately been translated. Neef's Plan of Education may be 
said to be the first strictly pedagogical book written and published 
in the new world. The full title reads : Sketch of a Plan and 
Method of Education founded on the Analysis of the Human 
Faculties and Natural Reason, suitable for the offspring of a Free 
People and for all Rational Beings. By Joseph Neef, formerly a 
co-adjutor of Pestalozzi at his scliool near Berne, Switzerland. 
Philadelphia : Printed for the Author, 1808. pp. 168. 

In the preface the author pays this tribute to his master : " There 
lives in Europe, beneath the foot of the Alps, an old man whose 
name is Pestalozzi, a man as respectable for goodness of his heart 
as for the soundness of his head. This man endowed by nature, 
or rather nature's god, with the felicity of an observing mind, was 
forcibly struck by the vices, follies, and extravagancies of the supe- 
rior ranks, and the ignorance, superstition, and debasement of the 
inferior ranks of society. He perceived that from these impure 
sources flowed all the miseries that afflicted his unhappy fellow- 
creatures. Being no disciple of Zeno, the woes of his brethren 
naturally imparted tlieir anguish to his sensible heart. The host 
of calamities, under which he saw his fellow-men growning, deeply 
grieved diis feeling soul, and the gulf of evils, into which he 
viewed mankind plunged, called forth the most cordial and sincere 
compassion. Tears fell from his mourning eyes but they were 
manly tears. Far from being disheartened by such a sad spectacle, 
he had the courage to enquire into the causes of human misery ; 
he went even a step farther and endeavored to find out a whole- 
some remedy, calculated to destroy at their very source those evils 
which inundate the world. ****** He therefore 
established a school. Other men, animated by his philosophical 
enthusiasm, joined him ; and thus began a work which will render 
Pestalozzi's name as dear and venerable to posterity as the deeds 
of many of his contemporaries will render them execrable to future 
generations. ****** About a year after Pestalozzi's 
school w;is established, I became acquainted with him and hia 



10 EDUCATION. (April, 

noble undertaking. Previously I had read several of his writings 
and admired both his profound reasoning powers and generous 
sentiments. By the interference of some of our mutual friends I 
became one of his disciples, or if you please, collaborators." 

Then follows a brief account of his meeting with Mr. Maclure, 
already alluded to, and a discussion of the scope of education. 
The first chapter after this introduction discusses Speech or Speak- 
ing. In this he makes a plea for the study of natural objects. 
" To unfold any faculty whatever we must exercise it, and to exer- 
cise it we must possess means fitted for exercising it. And these 
means we have in abundance. Let us but open up our eyes. The 
whole cabinet of nature, beings and objects, animate and inanimate, 
obtrude themselves as it were on us ; and yet how neglected they 
are ! how little use is made of our faculties and these invaluable 
means !" The second chapter — one of the longest — discusses 
Numbers and Calculation. He distinguishes between calculating 
and cyphering, and urges early objective instruction in the former. 
" As it is evident that all our numerical notions proceed from 
objects, we shall of coui-se begin our studies l)y them. Easily 
movable things, as beans, peas, little stones, marbles, small boards 
shall be our first instructors." The third chapter is given to 
Geometry and the fourth to Drawing. To both of these subjects 
he attaches an importance comparable with that of the best educa- 
tors of our own day. Chapter five is given to Reading and Writ- 
ing. In this the unphonetic character of English speech gets a 
good deal of just condemnation. The sixth chapter discusses 
Grammar and the seventh chapter Ethics or Morals. In the lattei- 
the Golden Rule furnishes the basis of his instruction. Natural 
History, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry are discussed in the 
three succeeding chapters. The value of each of these is strongly 
stated and methods of teaching them clearly set forth. "• Our arts 
and sciences are only to be looked upon as means by which the 
natural faculties of the growing man should be gradually brouglit 
to their maturity." 

Gymnastics or Exercise is the title of chapter eleven. This, it 
'will be remembered, was one of the subjects taught by him in 
Pestalozzi's school at Burgdorf ; and the importance of systematic 
bodily exercise is here stated with great clearness. Methods of 
teaching Greek, Latin, and French are given in chapter twelve. 
Music, Poetry, Geography, and Lexicology are considered in the 



1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 1^ 

next four chapters, and in conclusion the author discusses some- 
what briefly the internal management of his ideal school. 'It 
would be next to insulting the good sense of my readers should i 
attempt to tell them upon what footing I shall be with my pupils, 
for they know enough of me and my system to perceive that the 
crrave, doctorial, magisterial, and dictorial tone shall never msuit 
their ears ; and that they shall never hear of a cat o' nine tails ; 
that I shall be nothing else but their friend and guide, their school- 
fellow, play-fellow, and messmate." And all this his students tell 
us he was to them. . 

The closing paragraph of the book is sadly prophetic ot the 
author's subsequent career. " Should my project of forming my 
own school miscarry, then the director of some already established 
seminary will perhaps please to accept my service ; and it tins 
should not be the case, I shall in all likelihood find out some re- 
mote, obscure village, whose hardy youth want a schoolmaster. 
Hear it, ye men of the world ! To become an obscure, useful, coun- 
try schoolmaster is the highest pitch of my worldly ambition 

Neef's second published book was a translation of Condillacs 
Logic. The full title reads : The Logic of Condillac. Translated 
by Joseph Neef as an illustration of the Plan of Education estab- 
lished at his School near Philadelphia. Philadelphia. 1809. 
pp 138 It is a literal translation without notes or comments by 
the translator. His third book was : The Method of Instructing 
Children Rationally in the Arts of Writing and Reading. By 
Joseph Neef. Philadelphia, 1813. In this book he elaborate^ his 
ideas on the teaching of reading and writing outlined m his Plan 
of Education. In the preface he writes: -Whether my plan be 
good or bad, better or worse than others, is to be decided by those 
who make proper trial of it; and to them I dedicate the following 
instructions for teachers." His daughter writes^^^) that he also 
wrote a book giving his method of teaching the French lan- 
guage, but the manuscript never was printed. 

Of Neef's influence as an educator but few traces remain. His 
books on education— excellent pedagogical treatises— have fallen 
into undeserved neglect and are now out of print. The number of 
students under his charge was never large at any one time ; and 
these, if distinguished at all, were not in educational lines. That 
his teachings bore the scientific impress, is witnessed by all who 
have left records of his work. Dr. Wickersham (^'^^ says of ins- 



12 EDUCATION. [April, 

school lit the Falls of the Schuylkill : " It was governed without 
punishment of any kind. The pupils used no books but were 
taught orally and mainly in the open air. Frequent excursions 
were taken, that instruction might be fresh from the book of 
nature. Mr. Calkins^^^ thinks that the cause of Neef's apparent in- 
ability to markedly influence the educational activities of the New- 
World was because " he failed to comprehend the necessity of 
Americanizing the Pestalozzian system instead of merely transplant- 
ing it." But a somewhat careful study of Neef's books and of his 
actual teaching does not sustain Mr. Calkin's point. Two other 
and different reasons seem more conclusive to the present writer : 
His work lacked permanency. Had he remained in Philadelphia 
where he received a large measure of success and where his ideas 
were appreciated and endorsed, his name today might be one of the 
best known in the annals of American education. But he was 
easily discouraged and easily persuaded, and too often followed the 
advice of well-meaning but carelessly-informed friends. There is, 
however, a deeper meaning to be attached to Neef's seeming fail- 
ure : he came to America twenty-five years too soon. At the time 
of his coming, only a few generous souls like Maclure were inter- 
ested in the iniprovement of the schools. The renaissance in 
American education had not yet begun. A quarter of a century 
later, the intellectual revival which ushered into active service such 
men as Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, Walter Johnson, Thomas 
Gallaudet, and James Wadsworth, would have given Joseph Neef 
foremost rank in the great movement which developed the Amer- 
ican public school. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1. Boone, Richard G. Education in the United States : Its his- 

tory from the earliest settlementw. New York, 1889. 

2. Calkins, N. A. The history of object teaching. Barnard's 

American Journal of Education. Vol. XII, p. 633. 

3. Dunn, J. P., Jr. New Harmony's Influence. Sentinel., Indian- 

apolis, March 30, 1890. 

4. (xardette, C. D. Pestalozzi in America. The Galaxy., New 

York, August, 1867. 

5. de Guimps, Baron Roger. Pestalozzi : His aim and work. 

Translated by Margaret Cuthbertson Crombie. Syracuse, 
1889. 



1894.] PLACE OF THE MYTH IN MODERN EDUCATION. 13 

6. Hill, G. Birbeck. Life of Sir Rowland Hill. London, 1880. 

7. Krusi, Hermann. Pestalozzi : His life, work, and influence. 

Cincinnati, 1875. 

8. Monroe, Will S. Some early American books on education. 

Journal of Uducation, Boston, May 25, and June 8, 1893. 

9. Morton, S.G. Memoir of William Maclure. Barnard's A?ngr- 

iean Journal of Education. Vol. XXX, p. 561. 

10. Neef, Joseph. Sketch of a plan and method of education. 

Philadelphia, 1808. 

11. Neef, Joseph. The method of instructing children rationally 

in the arts of reading and writing. Philadelphia, 1813. 
■ 12. Neef, Joseph, Translator. The logic of Condillac. Philadel- 
phia, 1809. 

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Indiana School Journal, Indianapolis, November, 1892. 



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